[Ads-l] on accident

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Nov 3 21:38:00 UTC 2022


Rep. Zoe Lofgren, of California,  age 74, says today on "Deadline: White
House," "We found a way on accident."

Perhaps she's just young at heart.

JL


On Sun, Jun 19, 2016 at 7:12 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Equally to the point, the "baby talk" hypothesis was applied to an
> entire linguistic system (or systems).
>
> "My bad!" and "on accident" are isolated expressions that may have
> originated anywhere.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 19, 2016 at 5:54 AM, Margaret Lee
> <0000006730deb3bf-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > Wilson, I'm familiar with Dillard's work.  I'm talking about how he and
> other white linguists described Black English (the language as spoken by
> Black adults, not just by children) as "baby talk."  This, of course,
> reflects the idea of the language being 'incorrect,' 'bad English,'
> 'grammatically incorrect,'  'bad grammar,'  'improper English,' 'Standard
> English with mistakes,' etc.  And, of course, if the language was regarded
> as inferior, then, by extension, its speakers were regarded as inferior,
> even adults being regarded (and treated)  as children.
> > --Margaret Lee
> >
> >
> >       From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
> >  To: Margaret Lee <mlee303 at yahoo.com>
> >  Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2016 11:31 PM
> >  Subject: Re: on accident
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Jun 18, 2016 at 8:03 AM, Margaret Lee <
> 0000006730deb3bf-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Some years ago I suggested that "My bad!" had  similar origin.
> >
> > "Borrowing" in this case, however, may well include toddlers retaining
> > the form throughout life.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 3:35 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> >> Basically, with some wiggle room for just how conscious the process was
> or is.  It would be useful to have some empirical support on who is likely
> to use the "on accident" form but as I say I 'm hoping to blame it on the
> kids.  LH
> >
> > Y’all serious?! Ain’t dis some shit! Is I’m right, Margaret?
> Fellow-Texan Joey Lee Dillard, back in the early ’70’s, proposed just such
> an analysis of the origins of BE in his magnum opus,
> > Black English: its history and usage in the United States
> > https://books.google.com/books?id=3J2xAAAAIAAJRandom House: New York,
> 1972
> > Did the world of dialectology catch afire after the unleashing of the
> “a little child has led them” theory upon an unsuspecting academia?
> > Youneverknow.
> > BTW, does anyone else recall Bob Marley’s 1973 album mistitled _Catch A
> Fire_? The titled should be, _Catch Afire_.
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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